Looking for news you can trust?Subscribe to our free newsletters.

We welcome the fact that jobs were created and unemployment declined. Unfortunately, these numbers cannot hide the fact that President Obama’s policies have prevented a true economic recovery. We can do better. Last week, we learned that the economy grew only 1.7% in 2011, the slowest growth in a non-recession year since the end of World War II. As a result…..blah blah blah.

Alas, poor Mitt. Now he knows what it feels like to be Barack Obama. For the past two years Obama has basically been forced to say that, sure, the economy is bad, but it would have been even worse without his policies in place. That might be true or it might not, but it’s sure not a vote getter.

Now Romney’s on the other end of that argument. Sure, the economy is getting better, but it would be even better still without Obama’s policies. Again, maybe that’s true and maybe it’s not, but no one cares. If the economy is getting better, then people are happy and they’re going to vote for the guy in the White House. Romney had better figure out something better than that if he wants to have any chance of victory in November.

FACT:

Mother Jones was founded as a nonprofit in 1976 because we knew corporations and the wealthy wouldn't fund the type of hard-hitting journalism we set out to do.

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2019 demands.